Iraq wants schedule for U.S. troop withdrawal

WAR IN IRAQ

Alexandra Zavis, Los Angeles Times

Published 4:00 am, Tuesday, July 8, 2008

Bolstered by recent Iraqi military successes, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki proposed Monday that negotiators include a timetable for the departure of U.S. troops in any agreement to continue the U.S. presence in Iraq beyond the end of 2008.

The suggestion, made during an official visit to the United Arab Emirates, appeared aimed at deflecting domestic fears that the deal would impinge on Iraqi sovereignty and clear the way for permanent U.S. bases.

The Iraqi leader also recognizes that U.S. opinion has turned against the war and believes that his country should not wait for a U.S. decision to pull out troops, according to lawmakers from his Islamic Dawa Party.

President Bush and al-Maliki have set a target date of July 31 to hammer out a blueprint for U.S.-Iraqi relations after the U.N. mandate for the presence of U.S.-led forces in Iraq expires at the end of the year.

The talks are focused on two accords. One would provide a framework for future diplomatic, economic and security relations. The other, known as a Status of Forces Agreement, or SOFA, would provide a legal basis for U.S. troops to remain.

Negotiators have said progress was being made but that outstanding differences might make it impossible to complete a comprehensive SOFA and put it into effect by the end of the year. Possible bridging measures are being explored.

"The current orientation (of the talks) is to reach a memorandum of understanding either to withdraw the forces or to set a timetable for their withdrawal," al-Maliki's office quoted him as saying in response to questions from Arab ambassadors in Abu Dhabi.

Many Iraqis, including members of al-Maliki's government, view a deal that allows for a long-term U.S. military presence as a surrender of sovereignty to an occupying force. Setting a timeline for the withdrawal of U.S. troops could ease those fears.

Followers of influential Shiite Muslim cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, who pulled his representatives out of al-Maliki's Cabinet last year over the government's refusal to set such a timetable, welcomed Monday's statement.

"We have been demanding to set a timetable for the withdrawal of those forces ...since the beginning," said Felah Shanshal, one of the cleric's loyalists in Parliament. "It would be wonderful if that could be achieved."

The security agreement is also a contentious issue in Washington, where Democrats have accused Bush of trying to commit the United States to a long-term presence in Iraq before he leaves office in January. White House officials have said that the agreement would not set force levels or establish permanent bases in Iraq.

Points of friction between the United States and Iraq include the legal status of foreign personnel. U.S. officials have dropped a demand for immunity from prosecution for private contractors working for the U.S. government but have said that they would not allow U.S. troops to be tried in Iraqi courts.

Haider Abadi, a Dawa member and political insider, said al-Maliki did not believe Iraqis should be pressured into making long-term arrangements with an outgoing administration.

"No one can guess which way U.S. policy will go after the election," he said. "We cannot go on discussing an agreement that may never materialize. There is too much at stake."

He said the Iraqi military's recent successes against militants in Basra, Amara and Mosul and in the Baghdad district of Sadr City had inspired new confidence in the abilities of the security forces.

"Are we going to be at the mercy of some sort of decision in the White House that we have no control over?" he asked.

Abadi said the government was proposing that the United States should finish handing over responsibility for security in all 18 provinces within six months and pull out most of its troops in two to three years. Nine of the provinces are already under Iraqi control.